A popular move for conservatives in Connecticut this week was to contact people like me and ask why we hadn't written anything about Ed Ford Jr. and Tyrell Brown.

After all (went the argument) they are the youngest black Republicans ever elected in Connecticut. Why is the liberal press stifling this wonderful story about diversity in the GOP? Because it runs counter to the preferred narrative about Republicans as a party engaged in black voter suppression and possibly even sympathetic, in certain corners (although the Oval Office technically does not have corners), to white supremacists?

Thus contacted and feeling impish, I asked the guy who emailed to help me by coming up with a list of other Connecticut black Republican officeholders. He said he'd do a little research. I never heard from him again.

For the record, Ford and Brown were elected to the Middletown board of education and planning and zoning commission respectively. Free at last! I don't mean to minimize the accomplishment, but 50 years after the peak of the civil rights movement, this doesn't feel like a basis for a victory parade.

In the 2016 cycle, Republicans had six ticket spots for state officers (governor, attorney general, etc.). All six candidates were white. They had five candidates for Congress. Four were white, the lone exception being Angel Cadena, a lively ex-Marine who ran without any noticeable party support against U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-New Haven, who crushed him with 69 percent of the vote.

There was also a U.S. Senate race in 2016. The Republicans, from a field of white males, picked Dan Carter, a perfectly nice human being who would not be a terrible choice for the diorama depicting 21st Century American White Guy in a natural history museum of the future.

In 1962, Connecticut made history. Gerald Lamb became the first black candidate in the United States to be elected state treasurer. From that, the Democrats drew a weird conclusion: the treasurer should pretty much always be black and nobody else should. That was good news for Henry Parker, Francisco Borges, Joseph Suggs and Denise Nappier who has been state treasurer for exactly as long as the euro has been a currency.

There are some signs that she might retire this year, which could force the Democrats to do something really crazy like draft an African-American state legislator — Gary Winfield? Toni Walker? — to run for lieutenant governor. Madness! A black candidate but not for treasurer? What do you think this is? Illinois?

Connecticut Democrats have never, in hundreds of years, elected a black person to Congress. Connecticut Republicans have, once, 20 years ago: Gary Franks, also his party's nominee for Senate against Chris Dodd.

One black member of Congress! Alabama has had six. Florida nine. If it makes you feel better, Massachusetts is stalled at one, the Republican U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke. But they're leading us 1-0 with black governors.

Doesn't this seem a little weird? We've had a black U.S. President!

There are other kinds of diversity. Comptroller Kevin Lembo is gay. That's a big deal, and so are all the Asian and South Asian names dotting the field for this year's statewide races. Hwang, Srinivasin, Bhargava, Arulampalam. These are melting pot names that should make us feel proud.

The Connecticut General Assembly's Black and Latino Caucus has 29 members including Middletown Rep. Matthew Lesser, who may not strike you as especially Latino but who is half Argentinian.

When the parties have a state convention or send delegates to their national conventions, it becomes clear that the Democrats are more conscientious about including people of color. That's nice. But it's not real power.

The Barack Obamas, Deval Patricks and Kamala Harrises don't just happen. It takes three Ms — money, mentoring and making room. DeLauro is 74. Richard Blumenthal is 71. John Larson is 69. There are loads of people in the wings, but would it be crazy for the state Democrats to make election of their first black or Latino congressperson a priority?

As for you Republicans, way to go with those Middletown guys! You gotta start somewhere.

Editor's note: This piece was updated to correct the ethnicity of Matthew Lesser.

Colin McEnroe appears from 1 to 2 p.m. weekdays on WNPR-FM (90.5). He can be reached at Colin@wnpr.org.